Head of Data

Are you a strategic data leader ready to shape the future of a modern, digitally-enabled building society? Dudley Building Society is looking for an exceptional Head of Data to lead our enterprise-wide data strategy and transform how data enables insight, innovation, regulatory confidence, and member value.

As we continue our multi-year transformation, this role will be pivotal in establishing a trusted, well-governed, cloud-native data environment built on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Purview. You will ensure our data is accurate, secure, high-quality, and used responsibly across all business functions.

What you'll be leading:

Strategic Data Leadership

• Own, develop, and deliver the Society's data strategy-driving quality, trust, governance and value from the organisation's data assets.
• Partner with senior leaders to embed data into decision-making, customer experience, risk management and operational resilience.

Azure, Fabric & Purview Ownership

• Act as the enterprise owner for our Azure and Fabric data platforms and Microsoft Purview governance environment.
• Oversee architecture, roadmap and optimisation across Azure Data Lake, Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse, SQL, Fabric Lakehouse and Power BI.
• Ensure data platforms meet regulatory and best-practice expectations (GDPR, PRA/FCA, DAMA).

Data Governance & Compliance

• Lead the enterprise data governance framework, ensuring strong controls, quality, lineage, metadata and lifecycle management.
• Oversee Purview as the single source of truth for classification, compliance, lineage and sensitive data management.

Data Engineering & Architecture

• Lead a modern engineering practice delivering secure, scalable data pipelines and lakehouse structures in Azure and Fabric.
• Own enterprise data architecture, including integration patterns, domains and semantic models, ensuring alignment with key change programmes and third-party platforms.

Analytics, Insights & AI

• Drive enterprise analytics using Power BI, Fabric workloads, and Azure AI/ML.
• Enable predictive modelling, operational analytics and responsible AI adoption.

Leadership & Influence

• Build and develop a high-performing, multidisciplinary data team.
• Champion data literacy across the organisation and represent the Society with partners, auditors and regulators.

Do you have experience in SQL?, * Proven experience leading data functions in financial services or other regulated environments.

• Deep technical expertise across the Microsoft Azure data ecosystem, including ADF, Databricks, Synapse, SQL, ADLS, and DevOps CI/CD.
• Understanding of Microsoft Purview governance, lineage, classification and policy controls.
• Hands-on leadership across Microsoft Fabric-lakehouse, engineering workloads, and Power BI governance.
• Strong understanding of regulatory frameworks including FCA/PRA, GDPR, data risk and operational resilience.

Desirable

• Experience with Azure/OpenAI services and responsible AI frameworks.
• Relevant certifications such as Azure Data Engineer, Azure Solutions Architect, or Purview Specialism.

This is an opportunity to join a purpose-led mutual with ambitious transformation plans and a commitment to delivering better outcomes for our members through modern technology, insight and innovation. You'll be influencing change at the highest levels, shaping how the Society uses data for years to come.

In return for your expertise we offer:

• 35 hours a week contract
• Salary up to £80,000
• Basic holiday of 30 days+ Bank holidays
• Moments that matter days (Think birthdays, weddings + time off for getting the keys to a new house or welcoming a grandchild!)
• Pension contribution of up to 8% of salary
• Life assurance 4x salary
• Full Private Medical Insurance
• Healthcare plan covering some of those day-to-day health bills like your dental and optical bills
• Great career opportunities and continuous professional development